SUMMATION: Excellent, fresh made sherbet with local tropical flavors in cones or cups, at reasonable prices. Also, have traditional flavors for the unadventuresome. A Puerto Rican-Cuban tradition. [1]
NAME: Kings Cream
CHAIN: Family business, but similarly named ice cream shops owned by Chinese abound in Puerto Rico. [1]
SIZE: tiny
TITLE: "Tropical Sherbets" [Yelp, Parguera Pirate review #467 [2], submitted 3 December 2015]
MY RATING: Very Good (4.1/5)
TELEPHONE: (787) 892-4280
RESERVATIONS: no; TAKE OUT: yes; DELIVERY: no; CATERING: no
HOURS OF OPERATION: 10 am-10 pm every day
OWNER: Hui Mei Xiao
LOCALITY: 47 Calle Javilla, San German, Puerto Rico 00683
LATITUDE, LONGITUDE: 18°4'57.65"N, 67°2'28.24"W
DIFFICULTY LOCATING: moderate
DIRECTIONS: From PR 2, turn into San German on PR 122, cross the river, turn right at the downtown cross roads onto PR 102, at the "Y" in the road, veer right onto Calle Javilla, continue until it almost intersects with PR 360, and the shop is on the right. It is by an icehouse and across the road from a hardware store.
OCCASION: Last time we were there was with visitors.
PARKING: On the street, which is usually no problem. There is a giant, public, parking lot right behind the shop.
VIEW: Rather grungy part of town.
LAYOUT: Bare order and checkout window.
CUISINE: Despite much confusion, they serve sherbet [3], not gelato [4], not ice cream [5], and not sorbet [6].
FLATWARE: disposable plastic spoons
MENU ITEMS: carambola (starfruit), coco (coconut), guanaba (sour sop), maiz (corn), naranja [7] (orange), parcha (passion fruit), pina (pineapple), tamarindo (tamarind) [A], and more traditional flavored ice serbets.
WAITSTAFF: They are family members of the owner. Years ago, they could be a bit snooty. When we recently visited, they were very nice.
SERVING TIME: quick
COMPARISONS: "Rex Cream" in Mayaguez and "King Cream" in Ponce are very similar. Although the one in Ponce is much more famous.
PROBLEMS:
(I) There is an icehouse beside the ice-cream shop. Years ago, I went to get a bag of ice out of their 24/hr machine. It would not take bills. I asked for change and the ice-cream attendant refused. [8]
HEALTH: Use no preservatives
REVIEWS: rated Very Good, 3.80/5, 5 reviews (FaceBook); Very, Very Good, 4.67/5, 3 reviews (Google); Very Good, 4/5, 1 review (Yelp)
HISTORY: This shop opened in 1949. We have been going there since we moved to San German in 1974. We have served a variety of their flavors for desert at parties. After we moved to Mayaguez in 2005, we only go there with visitors.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Rumor is all these families emigrated from Cuba when Castro took over.
[2] Plus thousands of unnumbered, critical article and book reviews for hundreds of journals.
[3] Sherbet [not Sherbert] is fruit juices and dairy. It lacks air bubbles and is thus more dense, more concentrated, but less rich than ice cream.
[4] Gelato is low in dairy fat, but intensely high in sugar and flavorings.
[5] Ice cream is dairy, with some flavoring, diluted with air.
[6] Sorbet contains no dairy.
[7] Naranja means "orange" in Puerto Rico. In every other Spanish-speaking place the word for orange is "China" and naranja means a bitter orange [B]. In Puerto Rico "China" is a Chinese person. These ice cream shops are also called "Los Chinos" (The Chinese).
[8] So, I ordered the smallest cup of ice cream they offered and paid with a bill, then ordered another flavor in the smallest, paid with a bill. And a third flavor. When I obtained the bag of ice, I put the 3 cups of sherbet on top of it for the ride home.
SPECIES:
[A] Tamarind, Tamarindus indica, is an African tree, which is now grown all around the tropics and subtropics mostly for its pod-shaped fruit. In western cuisine, it is the chief ingredient in Worcestershire sauce.
[B] This is a hybrid orange particularly good in marmalades. Its medications can be dangerous. read more
